Man accused of crashing stolen van into pond pleads guilty

A man accused of a crime spree that included a knife-point carjacking and driving into a cyclist is going to prison.

James Badgley pleaded guilty Tuesday to the charge of first-degree robbery.

He was arrested on July 30, 2012 after a string of events that began that morning at the Multnomah Athletic Club.

Police said Badgley walked in, claimed people with weapons were chasing him and then took off. Badgley then stole a van at knifepoint, according to investigators, darted into traffic and hit a cyclist.

He also narrowly missed another one.

Nobody was seriously injured.

Badgley then drove off an embankment at 223rd and Marine Drive and crashed into a pond. He was found in a nearby field and arrested.

Badgley was sentenced to three years in prison and three years of post-prison supervision.

A Portland man who watched a solar eclipse in 1963 says the experience left him partially blind in one eye, and now he wants everyone to know the warnings about eye damage during the upcoming eclipse are no joke.

A Portland man who watched a solar eclipse in 1963 says the experience left him partially blind in one eye, and now he wants everyone to know the warnings about eye damage during the upcoming eclipse are no joke.